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Transition Metal Catalysts Could Be Key To Origin of Life
An anonymous reader writes "One of the big, unsolved problems in explaining how life arose on Earth is a chicken-and-egg paradox: How could the basic biochemicals — such as amino acids and nucleotides — have arisen before the biological catalysts (proteins or ribozymes) existed to carry out their formation? In a paper appearing in the current issue of The Biological Bulletin, scientists propose that a third type of catalyst could have jumpstarted metabolism and life itself, deep in hydrothermal ocean vents."
glenn beck?
Sweetest of the transition metals.
But that's not science, that's philosophy.
Battlestar Galactica was right, and we're all really Cylons in origin?
http://worldview3.50webs.com/rewards.html
Every living organism has an electromagnetic field. See the work of Harold Burr and the L-Field.
Saying that life arose purely from random chemical reactions is like holding that the egg came first. (Ref: The Chicken May Have Come Before the Egg ). But materialists have just as much of an agenda as the creationists, which is why we're subjected to this crap about life emerging from a chemical soup. (Stephen Hawking is a materialist tool. Ref: Hawking Picks Physics Over God For Big Bang)
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
Beck explained: A guy trying to sell books and get rating for his TV show.
If you think he is anything more, you're as duped as his minions.
Ah! So now I know what the missing ingredients in my Miller-Urey experiments are! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller%E2%80%93Urey_experiment
I just need to add a dash of Transition Metal Catalysts.
The stuff has been cooking for the last thirty years, and no life has crawled out yet . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Does anyone know who's behind this outfit? I've been seeing their pieces appearing on slashdot pretty frequently, and their pieces all have been short in PR release style, but their website is pretty much devoid of any info on their setup, who they are, etc.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
How could the basic biochemicals - such as amino acids and nucleotides - have arisen before the biological catalysts (proteins or ribozymes) existed to carry out their formation
Didn't the Miller-Urey Experiment answer how amino acids could show up?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Everyone knows that Gil Gerard created life by going back in time and ejaculating into the primordial ooze.
Monstar L
Isn't this old news? (pun not entirely intended)... A couple of the more prominent abiogenesis hypotheses have been based on this for most of the decade of not more. Here's a paper from 2003 that, while it has its flaws (some of which have been rectified, some of which have been completely rethought over the last 7 years) offers a fairly complete and very compelling hypothesis for how life may have originated at warm, alkaline thermal vents like those found at the Lost City thermal vent fields:
Martin, W. & Russell, M.J., 2003. On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 358(1429), 59-83; discussion 83-5. Available at: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/358/1429/59.abstract.
And here's a similar but competing hypothesis (still based on Fe/Ni-S, but with a different idea on the origins of membranes and cells):
Wächtershäuser, G., 2006. From volcanic origins of chemoautotrophic life to Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 361(1474), 1787-806; discussion 1806-8. Available at: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/361/1474/1787.abstract
The latter author has been writing papers about this hypothesis since 1992 (though I haven't read his first paper on the subject).
Point being, this doesn't seem to be a new thing, especially as summarized in the summary here and in the linked article. The original paper on which the article is based offers a bit more fundamental chemical details regarding the transition metals involved, and suggests good directions for experimental confirmation or refutation, but the overall idea remains pretty much the same, it seems. Still, it will be interesting to see what, if any, research and experiments result from this.
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
'nuff said.
You heathens do not understand that any attempt at finding the origin of life is a direct insult to God! The devil made transition elements!
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
When are people going to figure out that there is nothing that can't be called life. The vague distinction we make between what we call life and everything else, is a matter of the degree of complexity it has evolved. The question of "how did life start" is moot, because it's all alive and it always was.
I can argue that the earth is alive and it grew humans on it. You can't separate an organism from its environment, so why distinguish between the two. Some dinosaurs used to have 2 brains, one in the head and one in the tail. Yet we consider such a beast to be one living thing. So why not consider the earth one living thing with many brains? The distinction is arbitrary.
watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppyF1iQ0-dM
Well, I know everybody's just joking around here, but...
One of the more exciting papers I've read in this area appeared in Nature a little while back (14 May 2009). It shows not only that activated ribonucleotides could have been formed directly from simple molecules that were plausibly present on the early earth, but that the necessary reactions are of high yield, are catalyzed by inorganic phosphates, and take place under mild conditions. Because the ribonucleotides are formed as the phosphates ("activated"), they're suitable for polymerization to RNA under similarly mild conditions.
To me, this seals the deal for RNA the same way that Miller-Urey did for amino acids, and maybe even more so (because the reactions take place under ambient conditions, no lightning bolts needed). It's widely thought that early forms of life were based on RNA rather than DNA, so there you go. Now we just need to figure out how to make a ribosome.
See Powner et.al., "Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions," Nature 459, 239-242 (2009).
Sorry for the geekiness here, but of you know a little organic chemistry you'll find this really cool...
if we came from metal, maybe that's why we're all (at least the most 'civil'ized of us) acting like weapons now instead of life forms.
meanwhile ( & this is where the metal gets separated from, or 'blended' with the spirit); the corepirate nazi illuminati (see also: we came from monkeys but they didn't) is always hunting that patch of red on almost everyones' neck. if they cannot find yours (greed, fear ego etc...) then you can go starve. that's their (slippery/slimy) 'platform' now. see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder
never a better time to consult with/trust in our 'creators' (even if they're 'aliens'?). the lights are coming up rapidly all over now. see you there?
greed, fear & ego (in any order) are unprecedented evile's primary weapons. those, along with deception & coercion, helps most of us remain (unwittingly?) dependent on its' life0cidal hired goons' agenda. most of our dwindling resources are being squandered on the 'wars', & continuation of the billionerrors stock markup FraUD/pyramid schemes. nobody ever mentions the real long term costs of those debacles in both life & any notion of prosperity for us, or our children. not to mention the abuse of the consciences of those of us who still have one, & the terminal damage to our atmosphere (see also: manufactured 'weather', hot etc...). see you on the other side of it? the lights are coming up all over now. the fairytail is winding down now. let your conscience be your guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. we now have some choices. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on your brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.
"The current rate of extinction is around 10 to 100 times the usual background level, and has been elevated above the background level since the Pleistocene. The current extinction rate is more rapid than in any other extinction event in earth history, and 50% of species could be extinct by the end of this century. While the role of humans is unclear in the longer-term extinction pattern, it is clear that factors such as deforestation, habitat destruction, hunting, the introduction of non-native species, pollution and climate change have reduced biodiversity profoundly.' (wiki)
"I think the bottom line is, what kind of a world do you want to leave for your children," Andrew Smith, a professor in the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences, said in a telephone interview. "How impoverished we would be if we lost 25 percent of the world's mammals," said Smith, one of more than 100 co-authors of the report. "Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live," added Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN director general. "We must now set clear targets for the future to reverse this trend to ensure that our enduring legacy is not to wipe out many of our closest relatives."--
"The wealth of the universe is for me. Every thing is explicable and practical for me .... I am defeated all the time; yet to victory I am born." --emerson
no need to confuse 'religion' with being a spiritual being. our soul purpose here is to care for one another. failing that, we're simply passing through (excess baggage) being distracted/consumed by the guaranteed to fail illusionary trappings of man'kind'. & recently (about 10,000 years ago) it was determined that hoarding & excess by a few, resulted in negative consequences for all.
consult with/trust in your creators. providing more than enough of everything for everyone (without any distracting/spiritdead personal gain motives), whilst badtolling unprecedented evile, using an unlimited supply of newclear power, since/until forever. see you there?
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." )one does not need to agree whois in charge to grasp the notion that there may be some assistance available to us(
boeing, boeing, gone.
It is a good choice and happens to be atomic number 42. Google 42 if this number doen't meaning anything special to you.
This was at the very end of TFA, so no one may have read it:
Wha?! Are they kidding? This has been published by an apparently respected research organization. It became 'fact' less than 24 hours after it was published. No need for them to waste their time with bothersome 'empirical research' or the 'scientific method'. In the minds of many, words like 'conjecture' and 'could' in the above statement will be subconsciously replaced with 'wicked awesome fact' and 'suck it Fundies!'.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
In fact it has been solved for some time. The basic process involved are well understood. But most people can't or don't think large enough to consider the entire contents of the solar system, or the huge number of different processes and resultants involved. Harold Morowitz has been doing so for years. His Energy Flow In Biology is a deceptively small book describing how life could have arisen (in fact probably had to) from the elements and energy available in this region of the solar system, which became this planet. All the specifics of the physical chemistry involved are in there, formulae and all. Anyone with a serious interest in the subject has either read this or needs to. Anyone who intends to argue the points should be given this book and asked to point out just where it's wrong, because it's far more a collection of known facts than any speculation. As if to prove his point prior to criticism, the back of the book contains a list of biochemicals that should be expected to arise given the conditions and contents.
This is not to say TFA is entirely wrong. A hydrothermal vent could serve as an energy source/sink and chemical environment every bit as well as the entire planet. The complex dynamics could just as easily give rise to compounds and emergent properties just as Morowitz describes. And heavy metals may be involved. But they don't *need* to be. Morowitz's book happens to describe a general principle that applies by its own nature. It can get applied to any similar situation or collection of chemicals capable of ectothermic complexification. It works for this planet, almost certainly does for hydrothermal vents, can be used to project whether of what should happen on any other planet or moon or even deep space itself. When one sees how results can be obtained from such a wide range of environments and can guess from the results what characteristics are likely to apply, one can get a realistic assessment of how narrow our definition of life is and how broad it ought to be when our arbitrary, unnecessary, Earth-centric specifics are removed.
Of all the people who've tried to argue this with me, only 4 have ever taken up the challenge to read the book. Of those, there have been exactly zero to come back with any criticism of the specifics in the book, including the conclusions drawn. One of them then went to study at George Mason, not directly under Morowitz, but in the same department.
Sure, I've seen criticisms of his stuff. I've also seen that he doesn't respond to them, and I know why: they don't understand what he said or the basic science behind it, they pay him lip service in an effort to 'respond' with their own unrelated agenda, or they don't bother to try and simply attack his publication with formulaic restrictions they think are requirements. Morowitz writes books. People make whiny noises about a lack of "peer review". They fail to grasp that this requires peers. Morowitz has a few peers, but mostly in his understanding of complex dynamic systems, not in his erstwhile 'field'. Those peers have little to say, and those with the most to say can't think large enough to enter the same realm. Nor do they seem to notice that the actual science being used is undergrad textbook level so well accepted that few reference the origin (except in historical background) and nobody dare criticize for fear of ridicule. Laws of thermodynamics, ideal gas law, that sort of stuff. They can't, won't or don't read and understand what he wrote. I wouldn't respond to that either.
Get the book and try it. It's not that difficult to follow. Check his material against textbook contents. He's not making up anything except how its put to use, and his one example -- the whole Earth -- is obviously not the only one it can apply to.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Samzenpus wrote:
"biological catalysts (proteins or ribozymes)"
Shorter sentence would be correct: "biological catalysts (enzymes)".
There are protein enzymes or RNA enzymes, and not all proteins are enzymes.
We have fundamental molecules like hemoglobin (Fe), and an analog in arthropods(Cu). (may be Hemoglobin is the analog :) ) These are fundamental to oxygen transportation, and are based on transitional metals. These are not really complex molecules... and the transitional metals are fairly prominent in key structures within living organisms. Is it really that big of a surprise that these forms may have appeared first?
The fossil/geologic record would indicate that some prototypical form of chlorophyll analog must have occurred quite early in geologic time...
Not having studied this for many years I can only guess... but it seems to me that the biochemists are looking for the roots of life in the wrong molecules.
The thought makes sense.
This is my sig.
If what they say is true, then why wouldn't it be a constant ongoing process rather than life just origination a few times?
Ok, dolts, here it is. "God does not play dice." Einstein. Therefore QM is not dice, or in other word chance. Scientists believe everything is odds, probabilities, in other word chance. QED a scientist, therefore atheist, must reject QM, Einstein, the guy hit in the head with the apple, Galleo, and Mel Brooks.
I'm sure you didn't understand that because it's very high brow. So here's a story that isn't a low brow car analogy (but does include a race car vroom vroom).
"It's just like the story of the grasshopper and the octopus. All year long the grasshopper kept burying acorns for winter while the octopus mooched off his girlfriend and watched TV. Then the winter came, and the grasshopper died, and the octopus ate all his acorns and also he got a race car. Is any of this getting through to you?"
So, um, well I guess that clears everything up. That's why you should always wear briefs, not boxers, when visiting Mongolia.
o2, oxygen was/is poisonous to most early life.
Still I suppose it could still be happening in the deep.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I heard Hazen's audio book on the life's origins a few months back. He discusses how life may have began in an extreme environment( hi P, hi T, hi PH) before migrating to the more mild ecological niches it occupies today. Certain basic reactions that need catalysts/enzymes now may have had less of a need for those in an extreme environment. Then these catalysts which themselves are carbo-proteins could bootstap from other proteins, allowing life to move into the less extreme environments.